(anc. Noriomagus, or Lexorium), a town of France, capital of a cognominal arrondissement in the department of Calvados, on the right bank of the Touques, 27 miles E. from Caen. It stands in a beautiful valley, and is surrounded by villas and gardens. Its streets, with the exception of the principal one, which forms part of the road between Caen and Evreux, are narrow and winding, and the houses, which are high and antiquated, are built of wood. Its finest buildings are the cathedral, a Gothic structure of the twelfth century, which contains a chapel dedicated to the Virgin (built by Pierre Cauchon, Bishop of Lisieux, whose memory is stained by the part he took in the execution of Joan of Arc), the bishop's palace, a handsome edifice, surrounded by fine gardens, and the theatre. The town contains a communal college, and an ecclesiastical seminary. It has tribunals of primary jurisdiction and of commerce; manufactures of woollen cloth, flannels, cotton and linen yarn; and bleachfields, tanyards, paper and fulling mills, and dyeworks. There is also a considerable trade in fruit, corn, hemp, cider, and flax, which is facilitated by the river being navigable at high water from Lisieux to its mouth. So early as the fourth century, Lisieux was attacked, and almost completely destroyed by the Saxons. The Normans pillaged it in the eighth century, and retained it for a considerable time. It has since been frequently besieged and captured, and was last taken by Henri Quatre in 1588. The fortress was formerly one of great consequence, but the ramparts have been changed into elegant promenades. Pop. (1851) 11,428.